Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in Michigan under MCL 750.520c (the Michigan Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct law) is punishable "by imprisonment for not more than 15 years" plus mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring (tether) if Second Degree CSC is "committed by an individual 17 years of age or older against an individual less than 13 years of age." Also, if you are convicted, you will be placed on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry (SORA) for either 25 years or lifetime, depending on the circumstances of your case.
That is the official punishment for CSC 2 by law, and anyone charged with CSC 2 can and probably has already read that online over and over again. However...
As a Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Attorney, I am often asked the question "Will I go to Jail or Prison for Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct? What's really going to happen to me? What is the penalty for Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in Michigan? In other words, people can read the letter of the law all day, but they want to know what's really going to happen to them in their particular. case, and that's the question this article is directed at.
RELATED: click here for our Main Page for Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
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First of all, you're not going to be sentenced at all for CSC 2 or anything else unless you are actually convicted, meaning that you've been found guilty by a Jury or you've plead guilty to the crime. The best result is always to beat the entire case and be found NOT GUILTY. The entire reason to hire the best Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Defense Attorney you can afford is to avoid being convicted at all. However, if you were to be convicted or take a plea deal without a Sentence Agreement in advance, 15 years in Prison is the maximum sentence you can serve unless you are convicted as an Habitual Offender.
But figuring out what sentence you're actually facing in your particular case starts with your attorney calculating your Michigan Sentencing Guidelines. The Sentencing Guidelines are a mathematical formula that add-up points for your criminal history (if any) in what are called your prior record variables, or "PRVs," and for the specific facts of the allegations against you in this particular case, called the Offense Variables, or "OVs." The PRV totals and OV totals are added-up, then placed on a "grid" to arrive at a range of months, called your "Guidelines." For example, common Guidelines for someone charged with Criminal Sexual Conduct Second Degree in Michigan would be "12 to 24 months." But what does this mean?
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This means that the Judge picks a number between the 12 and 24 months (and sometimes even more or less if it is "reasonable"). Let's imagine they pick the middle number, 18 months. At Sentencing, the Judge would say "I order you to serve a period of 18 months to 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. This means that you would serve 18 months in Prison, at which time you'd be up for Parole. Your request can either be granted by the Board and you're released on Parole, or it can be denied, and you are "flopped," or ordered to continue serving time in Prison. However, you cannot serve more than a total of the maximum of 15 years for CSC Second Degree under Michigan law. This is in addition to the Sex Offender Registration and possible tether that may apply.
Here are some of the basic ways an experienced Michigan CSC Defense Lawyer can help lessen the possible consequences that you are facing:
- Take your case to trial and be found NOT GULTY of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, so that there is no sentence whatsoever. You simply go home;
- Negotiate a plea deal to a lesser CSC charge, other Sex Crime, or other criminal charge that carries less serious Guidelines, less serious maximum possible years of incarceration, and less serious Sex Offender Registration; and/or
- Negotiate a plea deal that includes a Cobbs Evaluation or a Sentence Agreement (called a Killebrew Agreement in Michigan) that carries a pre-determined sentence so you know ahead of time exactly what you're getting into.